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Presently, the importance of culture and context is becoming a significant feature of research in the field of learning strategies. To date, there has been little research into learning strategies utilized for reading and writing in Asian EAP (English for Academic Purposes) contexts, and in particular in the Thai context. With this in mind, this research investigated learning strategies employed by undergraduate students at a Thai university studying EAP reading and writing courses. The research aimed to identify the most frequently used strategies and different strategy use between ‘successful’ and ‘less successful’ learners. Learning strategies were classified following Oxford’s (1990) six category taxonomy and an additional category of negative strategies. The results revealed metacognitive, cognitive and compensation as the most frequently used strategies overall. Differences in strategy use for successful and less successful readers and writers were also demonstrated. A number of affective and social strategies were identified in the quantitative analysis which needed further investigation. Furthermore, various strategies investigated in earlier learner strategy research seemed, based on this research, to be culturally inappropriate in the Thai context.

The cultural dimension of foreign and second language use and teaching has risen in prominence since the 1980s. More recently there has been much interest in and debate concerning the use of English as a lingua franca (ELF). However, there has been little empirical investigation into what communication through ELF might mean for an understanding of the relationships between languages and cultures. This article reports on a qualitative study investigating seven users of English in a higher education setting in Thailand engaged in intercultural communication. Analysis of these examples of intercultural communication, together with the participants' metadiscussions of culture, revealed cultural frames of reference perceived of and made use of in a hybrid, mixed, and liminal manner, drawing on and moving between global, national, local, and individual orientations. Although the limited number of instances reported means that further research is needed to confidently make generalisations, it is suggested that cultural forms, practices, and frames of reference through ELF may be viewed not as a priori defined categories, but as adaptive and emergent resources which are negotiated and context dependent. Therefore, ELF needs to move beyond the traditionally conceived target language—target culture relationship to incorporate an awareness of dynamic hybrid cultures and the skills to successfully negotiate them.

With the status of English as a global lingua franca (ELF), English is no longer the sole property of its Anglophone native English speakers (NES) problematising the current dominance of Anglophone cultures and NES in the field of English language teaching (ELT).The notion of intercultural citizenship education offers a critical alternative model in language education. To investigate how ELF, intercultural approaches and the concept of intercultural citizenship might be integrated within the field of ELT, a study was conducted in a university located in southeast China. Due to the large number of ELT learners and high degree of student mobility in China these are issue of much relevance in this setting. The research collected qualitative data through face-to-face interviews, email interviews and focus groups with students on study abroad programmes who have both ELT and first hand intercultural experiences. Many students spoke positively about aspects of intercultural citizenship, but classroom instruction offered only limited channels for students to experience and understand intercultural communication and citizenship. In contrast, most of their understanding and experiences were gained outside the classroom during study abroad.Furthermore, many students spoke about the importance of English in their development of intercultural connections and citizenship. We conclude that more in-depth and critical approaches to teaching language, culture and intercultural communication in ELT are needed which foster and cultivate students' sense of intercultural citizenship.